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DFB's 'Bundestag' approves reforms, elects Grindel

November 4, 2016

Reinhard Grindel has been confirmed as the president of the German football association (DFB). The national German football conference also approved reforms aimed at stamping out corruption in the organization.

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Deutschland 42. Ordentlicher DFB-Bundestag Reinhard Grindel
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Schutt

The 258 delegates voted unanimously on Friday to elect the 55-year-old Grindel to the post, which he has held on a caretaker basis since April 15, at the DFB's national conference, or "Bundestag", being held in the eastern city of Erfurt on Friday.

"It's great to now be a real president, instead of just one on probation," Grindel said after the vote.

Grindel originally took the job on a caretaker basis on April 15 after his predecessor, Wolfgang Niersbach,resigned last year amid theaffair surrounding the 2006 World Cup,which Germany hosted.

Reform package

Much of the conference, which opened on Thursday, dealt with reforms designed to prevent such alleged corruption from talking place in the DFB in the future. Delegates elected former German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel as the head of a five-member ethics committee. It will be charged with investigating any allegations of "illegal or unethical" activities.

Delegates also approved a coed of ethics and a plan to establish a compliance management system for the DFB, which, with six million members, is the largest single sports federation in the world.

"We can only establish a new sensitivity for our values and rules if it is made crystal clear what we stand for," Grindel said.

Grindel has pledged to modernize the DFB, which is still reeling from the World Cup scandal, which revolves around a dubious payment made by the tournament's organizing committee to the world governing body FIFA. The payment is the subject of an investigation by Swiss and German prosecutors.

pfd/dv (dpa, SID)